A Mirror of Faith :: :: University of Virginia Library

“His steed had needs be fleet, my liege,
his heart had needs be brave,
That ventures o'er the strait to-day—
Saint Nicholas him save!
Not for all gold above the earth,
or precious gems below,
Would I be half-way o'er the Deeps,
when the tide begins to flow.”

“Let yeomen tremble, if them list!
a King must have his way:
Firm is the sand, and nigh the land,
and I will cross to-day.”
“Who faceth peril such as this,
of conscience pure needs be;
Grant that a man may meet it well,—
Sir King, thou art not he!”

“When I return again in peace,
thy words thou shalt aby:
The Lord's Anointed thou hast curs'd,
and thou shalt surely die.”
“If thou return at all in peace,”
said then the hermit bold,
“God's Name will be blasphem'd of men:
King John, thy days are told.”

King John's good steed is on the beach:
the beach is rough and steep;
But all his foot, and all his horse
went down into the deep!

And wearily and painfully
they plough'd their sandy way,
And gallantly and knightfully
they toil'd the live-long day.

The King spake out to all his host:
“'Tis yet the ebb of tide:
One little hour of labour more,
and we gain the further side.”
The Lord spake out to all His waves,
the waves His voice obey'd:
And in their might, both left and right,
came on in foam array'd.

At hour of Prime, the host went in,
for all the sand was bare;
At Vespers it was deep blue sea,
and yet the host was there:
Thus in old times did God o'erthrow
the tyrants of His Fold;
And still can do as valiantly
as in the days of old.